


this summer

by Worsewo



Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 22:03:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18019301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Worsewo/pseuds/Worsewo
Summary: Taekwoon hadn't thought he would ever see Sanghyuk again. But there he was, standing in front of his dorm room with an old travelling bag in his hand.Taekwoon was so screwed.





	this summer

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Sommerspiegel](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/462107) by Worsewo. 



Taekwoon had been happy when his roommate chose to move out of their shared dorm room at the beginning of semester break.

It wasn’t like he had hated his old roommate, no, but a few times he’d been close to strangulate the boy and throw him out of the window. The guy’s major had been religious studies and he’d never missed a chance to tell Taekwoon some mediocre-believing bible theories that had just prevented him from studying. Or, even worse, he’d turned up his Christian rock music, which was the reason why Taekwoon had to flee to the library many times. His move-out therefore had been a huge relief.

Since the beginning of April Taekwoon finally lived alone and moreover, he had two beds for himself. Ever since his roommate had moved out, nobody had applied for the shared room. To be honest Taekwoon was quite happy with how things were at the moment. The rent was higher, but thanks to his job he could afford that for a while.

Nevertheless, he would be quite thankful for a roommate that could help him pay the rent. – As long as that person was okay with leaving him alone and minding their own business. He lived in the dorms to finish his studies successfully and for that he needed silence.

It was the end of May, a few minutes after seven in the evening, and Taekwoon didn’t know yet that his new roommate would be even more of a challenge than his previous roommate.

He was lying on his bed and scrolled through a few messages that his teammates sent into their group chat, when there was a knock on the door. Taekwoon furrowed his eyebrows, confused. He didn’t expect any visitors this evening. Wonshik or Hongbin surely would have texted him beforehand and Jaehwan was in Japan to perform in a musical. For a few minutes Taekwoon stayed on his bed and listened carefully, hoping that the person would walk away, but then it knocked again and this time louder than before. With a sigh Taekwoon dropped his phone onto his blanket and got up from his bed. He was pondering for a moment whether he should change out of his dirty sweatpants into a clean pair of jeans, but decided against it in the end and walked in his unkept glory to the door.

Since it was rather unlikely that one of his friends stood in front of the door, Taekwoon guessed it would be the landlord or maybe one of his neighbours. But he was wrong. When he turned the key and opened the door a tall boy stood in front of him, light brown hair tousled. The stranger had a quite old-looking travelling bag in his hand. When he saw Taekwoon, a wide smile spread on his face, and only then, when the eyes of the boy disappeared behind scrunched cheeks, Taekwoon _knew_.

“Hyung!”, Sanghyuk greeted him cheerfully and promptly brought Taekwoon back in time; four years ago, a time, which he’d originally had wanted to forget.

 

< 

_Taekwoon first met Sanghyuk in summer._

_He’d just turned thirteen and his days were filled with his best friend Jaehwan with whom he played football outside every day. – Or, in fact it was more like Jaehwan_ accompanied _him to go outside. Jaehwan wasn’t a very sporty person, but still came along. He was a bit clingy in that aspect. On the field he wasn’t much of an enemy, since he couldn’t stay calm and quickly grew tired of playing. Taewoon ignored him most of the time. He wanted to practice as much as possible during the summer vacations since it was his plan to introduce himself to the football team of the school next year._

_However, his daily routine was soon to be interrupted, when Jaehwan brought a small boy with puffy cheeks to the field one day._

_“This is Sanghyuk. He’s the son of my mom’s friend. I’m babysitting him today”, Jaehwan explained with a shrug when Taekwoon looked at him in confusion. “Hey Sanghyuk, introduce yourself.”_

_“B-but Hyung, you just introduced me to him!”, Sanghyuk screeched almost offended and nervously glanced at Taekwoon._

_“Oh, you’re right”, Jaehwan adjusted the thick rimmed glasses on his nose. “Then it’s your turn, Taekwoon. Come on, don’t be shy!”_

_Taekwoon brushed a sweaty strand of hair out of his face._

_“He knows my name now”, he said stubbornly, because he didn’t want to introduce himself to that intruder._

_Jaehwan shook his head disapprovingly with his hands on his hips._

_“If you don’t do it, then I’ll do it”, he said and puffed his chest out, as if to challenge Taekwoon. “Taekwoon loves his mommy, he still pissed his pants when he was four, he speaks as much as a piece of toast and…”, he couldn’t finish since Taekwoon decided to shoot him with the football in that moment._

_“Ya! Taekwoon!”, Jaehwan complained and angrily kicked the football into the closest bushes._

_That day Jaehwan had made it sound like bringing Sanghyuk was a one-time thing. But his mom soon urged him to babysit Sanghyuk regularly, which was the reason why the younger boy often came along to their meetings. Taekwoon wasn’t really thrilled by that. He thought children from age one to four were cute, maybe five, but Sanghyuk was obviously older than that._

_“Will he join us every day?”, he asked on the fifth day, annoyed, when Sanghyuk once more weaselled behind Jaehwan._

_“His mom gives me money for taking care of him”, Jaehwan replied as if that was a sufficient explanation. Sanghyuk was looking anxiously from him to Taekwoon._

_“But what should we do with him?”, Taekwoon complained._

_“H-hey, I’m not mute”, Sanghyuk suddenly stuttered, but was ignored by the other two._

_“No clue. Maybe he can just watch? Or, Hyukkie, can you maybe play football?“, Jaehwan asked._

_“I don’t know?”, Sanghyuk replied with large eyes._

_It turned out that Sanghyuk also wasn’t the best football player, but he surely was more energetic than Jaehwan. He was running across the field as fast as possible and tried to cut off Taekwoon. - Which most of the time didn’t work out. It was obvious that the boy put a lot of effort into playing with Taekwoon. In the end Taekwoon couldn’t help himself but comradely pat the shoulder of the smaller after they’d finished playing._

_“Do you prefer him over me now, or what?”, Jaehwan immediately sulked, who had been watching them from the side of the field. Taekwoon ignored him and mutely sat down on the grass._

_“And you?”, Jahewan said to Sanghyuk. “Will you ditch me as well?”_

_“N-no, Hyung”, Sanghyuk answered quickly and hesitantly plopped down next to the older boy._

_After a while Taekwoon stopped regarding Sanghyuk as an intruder. His first reaction had been only natural, though, because Taekwoon found it extremely hard to get to know new kids. Since he only had Jaehwan, he’d first thought Sanghyuk would steal away his only and best friend._

_But in the end they became a team of three, even though it was unintended at first._

> 

It took Taekwoon a few seconds to cope with the shock. Wordlessly he looked at Sanghyuk whose smile vanished more and more. The boy looked so different, but at the same time he still seemed to be the same. The curled lips, his tired eyes and his wide nose still suited his memory of 17-year old Sanghyuk.

21-year old Sanghyuk had grown a few centimeters and had finally succeeded to tower above Taekwoon. His shoulders were wider and his face somehow more mature, but Taekwoon could still see the child in his eyes.

The girls were probably still all over Sanghyuk, just like they’d been four years ago.

“Sanghyuk”, Taekwoon said and somehow his voice sounded embarrassingly hoarse. “What are you doing here?”

“Hyung”, Sanghyuk started. He looked like he didn’t really know how to explain the situation. “Didn’t you know?”

„What?“, Taekwoon asked and threaded his fingers through his own, unwashed hair. He should have taken a shower this morning. He didn’t want to know what kind of impression he made on Sanghyuk right now.

“I’m moving in! I’m starting to study computer science here”, Sanghyuk explained. „I didn’t look for a dorm room yet since I was on the waiting list, but Jaehwan said that you don’t have a roommate right now. I thought he told you about this.”

Taekwoon needed a moment to process this information. _Jaehwan_ told Sanghyuk about the room? But why didn’t he warn him beforehand? He thought they were best friends…

“No”, he muttered after a while and shook his head. “He didn’t.”

“Oh… I didn’t know about that“, Sanghyuk scratched his head with his free hand. “Is it okay for you if I move in?”

 _No_ , Taekwoon thought and resisted the urge to bite his lip in frustration.

“Sure, it’s okay”, he said and stepped aside to let Sanghyuk in.

“Thanks, Hyung!”, Sanghyuk immediately beamed and squeezed himself past Taekwoon. Taekwoon’s body tensed when his shoulder touched his chest and the smell of his aftershave invaded his nose. He closed his eyes and waited for a few seconds at the door.

He was in deep shit right now. Sanghyuk, the one person that he’d never wanted to see again, had just _moved in_ with him. And Taekwoon couldn’t just throw him out again because Sanghyuk didn’t even know what kind of feelings he’d caused him to feel.

Taekwoon had cut off contact four years ago without any explanation when he moved to this town for his studies. And Sanghyuk didn’t seem to have missed him a lot since he never tried to contact him. But now here he was, exploring Taekwoon’s dorm room as if nothing had happened; as if it was only yesterday that they walked through the streets of their hometown together with Jaehwan.

Taekwoon took a deep breath one last time before he closed the door and turned around. Sanghyuk had thrown his bag onto the empty bed and was looking at the musical-poster above Taekwoon’s bed right now. A colourful, broken record was printed on the paper.

“Never heard about this musical before… Is it good, Hyung?”, Sanghyuk asked.

“Jaehwan was part of it last year”, Taekwoon answered and tapped on the bottom of the paper where the name of his best friend was written.

“Oh, cool!”, Sanghyuk said, cheerfully it seemed, but Taekwoon thought he might have seen some sadness in his eyes for a second. Suddenly the mood was even more awkward between the two of them. Taekwoon didn’t really know whether Jaehwan and Sanghyuk had stayed close over the years, but somehow he had the feeling that that wasn’t the case. Sanghyuk probably felt like an outsider.

“Do you want to go to the janitor and get the second key?”, Taekwoon changed the topic.

“Oh no, I’ll do that tomorrow”, Sanghyuk said and turned his back to the poster to open his bag. Taekwoon didn’t really know what to do when he watched him pulling out a few pullovers.

“The wardrobe is near the door”, he said. “Wait, I’ll make some space.”

Relieved to have found an excuse to leave the room he walked to the narrow hallway and tried to bring a bit order into the mess that was his wardrobe. Ever since his roommate had moved out Taekwoon had just thrown his clothes mindlessly inside. Even though the situation was uncomfortable anyways, he at least wanted to be a good example for the younger boy.

When he returned to the sleeping room, Sanghyuk hummed an undefinable melody while unpacking. Taekwoon sat down on his own bed and tried not to notice how long and strong the legs of the younger were or how wide his shoulders. Instead he looked out of the window and watched how the clouds slowly turned pink, coloured by the setting sun.

Two meters. Two meters would separate him and Sanghyuk during the night from now on. He suppressed a frustrated sigh. It was only a question of time until Sanghyuk would bring up all those uncomfortable memories from the past. Sanghyuk would definitely ask questions. Questions that Taekwoon could impossibly answer.

While the younger boy got comfortable in his new room, Taekwoon grabbed his phone and opened his chat with Jaehwan. If he couldn’t show his true emotions to Sanghyuk than he at least wanted to let his best friend know about his frustration.

 **_To Jaehwanie <3_ ** _: do you want to die?_

> 

The rest of the evening they spent alone in their room. Sanghyuk talked on the phone with his parents while Taekwoon read one of his books. When they were lying in their beds later and the pale moonlight painted stripes onto the floor, the silence between them felt oppressive. They should talk. Once in the past they had been good friends, so it felt weird not to talk. On the other hand they hadn’t seen each other for four years let alone talked.

“Hyung?”

Taekwoon pressed his lips together and didn’t move one centimetre. Silently he stared into the darkness while Sanghyuk rustled with the blankets.

“Are you asleep?”

Taekwoon’s heart was beating faster in his chest than it should be. He should forget about what had happened four years ago. The sound of Sanghyuk’s voice shouldn’t have such an effect on him. But still, dozens of old pictures filled his head; so many memories; some of them nice, most of them painful.

“Good night, Hyung”, Sanghyuk finally said softly after a few minutes, and Taekwoon let out a breath of relief.

He had hoped to at least escape the other boy while sleeping, but when he drifted into slumber the first thing that he saw was Sanghyuk’s childlike face.

 

< 

_Sanghyuk’s wide eyes wandered from Taekwoon to Jaehwan as the latter placed a bottle of soju on the picnic blanket. They were sitting a bit further away from the street where the grass was higher. It was the last Friday before school would start again, and their parents had allowed them to stay outside a bit longer. Taekwoon had thought they’d just play a bit football, like they always did, but his best friend seemed to have other plans._

_“I got this from my parent’s basement”, Jaehwan said with a low voice, as if that was a huge secret._

_“W-what is that, Hyung?”, Sanghyuk asked, scared, while Taekwoon just sceptically glanced at the bottle that his best friend had stolen from his parents._

_“Nothing for little kids”, Jaehwan said. Sanghyuk started to pout at that._

_“He’s only eight years old”,  Taekwoon murmured when his best friend opened the bottle. As the oldest one he felt like it was his duty to say that, but Jaehwan ignored him and instead smelled the alcoholic drink. He didn’t seem to love it since he turned his head away with a disgusted expression._

_Taekwoon bit his lip nervously. He was thirteen and his parents had just allowed him to drink coca cola. The green glass bottle with the white etiquette seemed somehow scary. The intimidating older boys who always hung around the convenience store next to the bus stop drank stuff like that. Taekwoon felt like he was watching a crime when Jaehwan carefully nipped on the bottle._

_“Tastes good”, Jaehwan said a little too forced even though his face showed the complete opposite, and passed the bottle to Taekwoon, who took it reluctantly. The smell alone made Taekwoon want to gag, but he tried the soju anyways. – Just to spit out the few drops that had entered his mouth immediately._

_“Pussy”, Jaehwan said boastfully but also didn’t touch the bottle again._

_Sanghyuk sat between them with a tense expression. When he tried to reach for the bottle, Taekwoon hit his arm. Sanghyuk flinched at the touch as if he’d gotten struck by lightning and for a second Taekwoon felt bad because the boy seemed to be so frightened of him._

_“You get all crazy from sugar alone“, Taekwoon said quietly and hesitantly patted his shoulder after a second. Sanghyuk looked at him as if he was a saint at that._

_“Aww, cute, you’re getting closer”, Jaehwan grinned and bumped into Sanghyuk’s narrow shoulders, so that the skinny boy got pushed against Taekwoon’s arm. Taekwoon shot his best friend a deadly glare before he moved to the side to increase the distance between them._

_With a dark expression he watched the field. But Jaehwan was right. Weeks had passed and Taekwoon had grown to like Sanghyuk so much that he didn’t want to see him harmed. He wanted to protect Sanghyuk and deep inside he had already accepted him as a part of their group._

_It was the beginning of their friendship and Taekwoon didn’t know yet that sweet, innocent Sanghyuk would one day ruin his life._

**Author's Note:**

> maybe there have been weird words or weird use of comma that made you realize that English is not my first language. forgive me. 
> 
> this is a translated work. originally it's called "Sommerspiegel" which means... mirror of summer... or something like that. It is a newly constructed word/neologism. I decided to go with an english title for the translation (i'm also the author of the original work). 
> 
> I hope you liked the first chapter even though my English is not perfect! :)


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